A Stay in a Storm
by Captain Black Feather
Summary: Jade is forced to stay over at Tori's house when the weather turns awry. Will be a fluff filled two-shot from the POVs of both of the girls.
1. Jade POV

**AN: Hey guys. I ship both Jori and Bade, so nothing hurts :) except for Bori. I wanted to write a oneshot, but felt that I could make a two shot with both Jade and Tori's POV so I guess that's what it is. Tori's POV will be up later. For now, this is Jade's POV, and I hope you enjoy the story.**

**It is rated T because of some suggestive themes. M would mean heavily implied mature content, explicit content or dark themes. So, I'm confident in the rating.**

**What else? Oh, don't forget to review. I appreciate all of the positive opinions from people, as well as constructive criticism.**

**Victorious belongs to Dan Schneider. **

I watched the steam billow out of my cup of coffee and let it warm my face. The overcast weather was enough to bring down the spirits of everyone in LA, but I was in my element. The biting cold felt good against my skin and the rain pattered down, calming me in a way that would be otherwise impossible. Living in the sunshine state grated on my nerves, with the blistering heat painting freckles on my pale skin and encasing me in an inescapable heat. Now, however, I sipped my coffee with content. It wasn't often that people would see me in a serene state, as I had a reputation for having a wild temper, emotions running high constantly. I saw my ex Beck walk into the store with some preppy girl hanging off his arm. I curled my lips downwards in distaste, my content mood now spoiled. I got up, pushed past him and his little arm candy and stepped out of the store. The falling droplets of rain bombarded my face as I stepped out onto the sidewalk. Growling, I trudged down the street and disposed of my now empty coffee cup. I looked down at my feet as I picked up my pace, upset that I had left my umbrella at the coffee shop. As I was watching the ground I didn't notice somebody hurrying in the opposite direction to me. When I did look up, it was too late and I had ran into a thin body, and sent them flying to the ground with me on top. I quickly got up and picked up the discarded umbrella on the floor, and held it over the person I had run into.

"Sorry," I said, gritting my teeth. I had no energy to get into an argument with a stranger. It wasn't a stranger, however, that was picking their body up off the ground at the moment. A now slightly wet and dirty Latina girl took her umbrella back with dainty hands and looked up, finally recognising me.

"Jade? What are you doing?" She asked, now holding the umbrella over the both of us.

"I was getting coffee at Jetbrew, but I ran into some dislikeable company, so I left," I spat. Tori Vega just looked at me with her warm brown eyes, trying to decipher my emotions through my features. I snorted and narrowed my eyes slightly. "Whatever, I'll be on my way. See you, Vega," I said, taking a step out from under her umbrella and back into the rain.

"Wait!" She shouted out, and I stiffened and turned around. "You're all wet, and it's cold out, want to come with me back to my place to warm up a bit before catching a lift home or something?" She asked me. I was about to refuse her offer, but the rain started to pelt down harder, so I instinctively ran back under her umbrella. Tori must have seen this as a 'yes' as she started walking back towards her house, and I had no choice but to follow.

After a few minutes we arrived at the Vega household. "My parents are dropping my Uncle off at the airport, and my sister has gone shopping, so we have the house to ourselves," Tori told me. I looked around, and my eyes landed on the very inviting looking couch. Before I sat down though, I realised I was still in soaking wet clothing. "Should I dry off or…?" I trailed off.

"Oh, um, you can have a shower if you want, and then grab some of my clothes after I put yours in the dryer," Tori said. I nodded and walked upstairs, finding the bathroom. After many visits with the rest of the group to this house, I have memorised where the bathroom is. Only because I've needed to use the toilet, of course. I peeled off my clothes, left them outside the door, which I then locked, and hopped into the shower. The hot water from the shower beat down upon my skin in a very satisfying rhythm. The steam shrouded around me, and I looked over to the bar of soap on the rack of cosmetics. I shrugged to myself and picked it up, and scrubbed my body. After a little while of relaxing, I turned to water off and stepped out. I picked up a towel, wrapped it around me and stepped out of the bathroom and into Tori's room.

"Hey Jade, I put your stuff in the drier earlier, do you want-" Tori started, but cut herself off as she looked at my body clothed only by a towel, and she flushed beet red if only her complexion had shown it well.

"Do you, um, want clothes now or?" She started stuttering.

"No Vega, I don't want clothes. I would love to strut around naked. Of course I want clothes!" I snapped at her. She broke from her awkward embarrassed state and turned around to grab me something in a huff. She handed me some black cotton shorts and a white, thin pyjama top, as well as a bra and some panties. I looked down at the clothes and fiddled with them, before looking up at her. I held the bra up with one finger and raised an eyebrow.

"I probably won't be able to fit in this," I told her, deadpan. Tori blushed a bit as she involuntarily glanced down towards my chest before she dragged her eyes back up and said, "Oh, then let me grab one of my sister's or something."

I rolled my eyes, turned around and let the towel fall to around my waist and slipped the shirt on. Tori spluttered a bit so I turned back to face her.

"We're both girls Vega. Actually, I don't know what you have down there, but I should hope that you aren't appalled by me," I said, watching her turn around as I slipped the cotton shorts on over the panties, which were being stretched by my hips. I toyed with the fabric, picked up the towel and threw it at the Latina, who let out a small yelp and quickly turned to face me again.

"My clothes will be out of the drier soon anyway, right?" I asked her.

"Yeah, they should be-" a ringing from her pocket cut her off. "Sorry," she whispered to me before going back to her phone. "Yeah. Really? Jade's over, should she-ok. I'll have to ask- sure. Love you too, bye." Tori pressed the end call button on her pearphone and faced me. "That was my parents. They're stuck at a motel somewhere because the weather is acting freaky. They want you to stay here because a bad storm is coming and it will be too dangerous to drive home. Do you want to call your parents or something?" She asked me. I looked at her for a while, and looked down at my feet.

"Don't worry, nobody will notice I'm gone anyway," I mumbled. I raised my head again with conviction in my features, and jumped onto Tori's bed.

"Oh, well, um, I have to call Trina, so," Tori trailed off, already dialling her sister's phone number. I ignored whatever conversation they were having and tried not to think about all the nights I hadn't come home and nobody had realised I wasn't even there.

"Do you want to eat something and watch a movie?" Tori asked me, leaning over where my body lay on the bed. I shuffled off the end and made my way down the stairs to the kitchen.

"You pick out a movie; I'll make something to eat. I feel too much like I'm intruding," I told her, already pulling ingredients and cooking utensils out of cupboards. Tori tried to protest, but I only shot her a harsh glare and she scrambled to pick out a movie and set it up on the TV. I cooked some rice and found some seaweed, so I grabbed a bit of tuna and started to make some onigiri. I glanced over to the television and saw that Tori had put on some sad romance movie and I scoffed to myself. Finishing the rice balls I put them on a plate and brought them out to the coffee table in front of the couch. I sat down and started to dig in, and Tori also started to eat. She gave a hum of approval and I hid my face in my hair, which was staring to dry into my natural curls. Tori seemed to notice this as well, and started to play with one of the strands that was particularly curly. I gave a cold glare to her, but she wasn't looking at my face, so I just turned around and continued eating, ignoring the girl fiddling with my hair. I also tried to ignore the way she unconsciously started to stroke the side of my neck in a way that felt extremely nice. I closed my eyes and let Tori's fingers continue to massage the back of my neck as she lightly tugged on my hair, but snapped them back open as I felt cold around the back of my head again. Tori had retracted her hand and was shuffling a bit, squirming in her seat. I blushed a little, but picked up the empty plate and made my way to put it in the dishwasher. I searched for some snacks, and finding some candy as well as a packet of popcorn, I emptied the candy packets into a bowl, grabbed a few chip packets and retrieved the popcorn from inside of the microwave. I grabbed all of the food and set it on the table in front of Tori, who had turned off all of the lights, and sat down next to her as she started playing the movie. It was some movie about star-crossed lovers with the added bonus of a serial killer, but I wasn't paying too much attention. Tori had squirmed into my side as the scenes with the killer played across the screen. I watched these scenes with undivided attention, trying to deconstruct how it was made with special effects and judging how realistic it looked. For some reason, I restrained a sigh, eye roll and even a comment on Vega being a baby whenever she whimpered and clutched me tighter.

My breathing hitched as Tori reached over to grab a handful of popcorn, but her hand brushed the side of my breast and I could feel her touch through the thin material of the shirt she had given me. I was glad that it was too dark for her to see my reddening face, but I had a feeling she knew why I had stiffened all of a sudden and was aware where here hand had passed.

I didn't know when I had fallen asleep, but when I woke up, I stirred to see a gentle hand caressing the side of my face, and then pulling a blanket over my incapacitated form. I would normally have snapped at this, but I was too comfortable to move. I saw Tori smile softly as I let myself drift off into a deep slumber on the red couch. I woke up a second time, but it was too dark to see much at all at that point. I shivered slightly, then again more violently as I noticed how cold it was, and how the light blanket previously draped over me was lying on the floor. I stiffly got up and picked the blanket up but it didn't provide enough heat even as I wrapped it around myself to keep me warm during the night. I weighed my options, but decided I would regret it if I tried to sleep on the couch again.

Tentatively I walked up the stairs, trying to be as silent as possible. Even though it was only Tori asleep in the house, I felt like it was necessary to stay quiet. With the soft cotton blanket still hanging around my shoulders and draped over my body, silently as possible I nudged Tori's door open. I was a bit worried that her parent's room had alarms or something, you never know with cops, and I was too hesitant to even enter Trina's room. Her walls were probably plastered with photos of herself, and there is no way I would be able to sleep with thousands of Trina Vegas looking down at me. I peeped through the space between the slightly open door and the doorframe and saw Tori curled up on her bed. I didn't want to admit it, but she looked really cute snuggled up to her blankets like that. I tried not to let the door creak as I pushed it open further, and again tried hard to not let the rumpling of the sheets awaken her as I shuffled into her bed. I fell asleep soon to the rhythmical sound of soft breathing coming from the sleeping girl beside me.

I bat my eyelashes as rays of light tried to blind me through flimsy shutters on the window. I noticed that I was alone in Tori Vega's bed and I tried to recall how I got there. I was cold during the night so I came up here. Why _was _I here? Why was I staying at Tori's house anyway? It was because I saw Beck and some other girl so I got upset. I ran into Tori. I had no choice but to follow her home because the rain was getting heavy. I couldn't go home because the weather was too dangerous. Why did it still feel like I was here by my own free will, and enjoying it? I shook my head, and felt cool air tickle my exposed toes. I kicked the blankets off the side of the bed, and shuddered realising I was still lying on Tori's bed in her small clothes, which did nothing to protect me from the temperature. I let my thoughts wander back to the missing Latina girl as I picked the blanket up off the floor and tried to make the bed again. I had slept with her last night. Suddenly I choked on my breath as I realised the implications of that sentence. I probably should have phrased that better, I thought, as I tried to get my cheeks to return to their normal colour. I heard the sound of pots clinking together from downstairs, so I went to see what was going on.

Downstairs I saw Tori fiddling with the gas on the stove. I looked over to the kitchen bench and noticed several ingredients for pancakes strewn around, and then an empty bottle of pancake mix. I smirked and threw some of the abandoned ingredients either back in their designated spots on the shelf or into the trash before looking over to Tori. She had the pancake mix in a frying pan and was trying to get it to cook. I took it upon myself to clean the mess that Tori had created, and by the time I had done a plate of pancakes was thrust in front of me. I looked up and saw Tori holding the plate, a bit of liquid pancake on her cheek. I leaned over and wiped it off her, and she blushed slightly. I licked my finger and she only blushed harder, so I chuckled lightly before taking the plate out of her hands.

"I made breakfast because you made dinner," she told me, once she regained her wits. I sat myself down at her table and started to dig in. The pancakes weren't too spectacular, but they weren't burnt or anything. Adding a little lemon and sugar to them, I watched as Tori drowned hers in maple syrup.

Ugh, Canadian food.

Tori noticed my bed hair and started giggling, and I looked up at her, a poker face etched onto my features. The Latina had already gotten herself ready for the day, complete with makeup, even though she probably wasn't even going anywhere seeing as the weather was still pretty bad.

"Your clothes finished drying last night. I didn't want to wake you though, but maybe I could get my clothes back afterwards," she started. Her voice grew smaller towards the end of her sentence as she glanced down to what I was still wearing. The thin material of the top didn't hold back _anything_, seeing as the cold air was still wafting through the house and I wasn't wearing a bra. She could probably see traces of pink through the shirt, judging by how flustered she had become.

"Thanks for letting me stay the night, anyway." I said to her, to try and ease the ever-increasing awkwardness. This seemed to kick Tori back into action.

"It's okay. You never did tell me why you ran into me, exactly," she said, forcing me to remember the coffee shop and its customers. I looked at the girl sitting opposite me. She did let me stay at her house in the bad weather tonight, and I haven't been exactly nice to her for the time I've known her. She looked at me with her shining brown eyes, which were filled with curiosity. I realised she was genuinely curious, almost concerned rather than just being nosy. I sighed and looked down to the remains of my pancakes, which were now mere crumbs.

"I walked to the coffee shop with my umbrella, but I saw beck and some girl draped over him. I guess I've found it harder than him to move on, so I rushed out of the shop forgetting my umbrella. It was only a cheap one anyway," I explained. Tori looked at me with more of that concern n her eyes.

"I guess he can be a bit of a jerk sometimes, we just tend to overlook that because he's good looking," Tori said to me, trying to comfort me or something. I scoffed, stood up, and made my way to the laundry room.

"I'm grabbing my clothes," I shouted over my shoulder, to answer Tori's questioning look from over at the table.

I stripped myself of Tori's clothes realising they smelt like her only after I had discarded them. They were growing a bit tight on me though, so I enjoyed being able to free myself from the restraining fabric. I put my form fitting black jeans back on, as well as my dark, low cut halter-top. I recently went shopping with cat for more _appealing _clothes to try and bring myself out of the slumps about Beck and show everyone I was back to being single. Cat phrased it as 'being back on the market' but I yelled at her that I wasn't a piece of property to be owned, which made her upset but that was easily fixed with some ice cream. I ignored my black socks, but eventually picked them up to stuff in my combat boots, which were outside because they were caked in mud, so I could return to them later.

Tori had put the dishes away in the dishwasher by the time I had strolled down the stairs.

"The weather is clearing up, do you want to drive home now?" She asked me.

"Yeah, sure. How is that going to work though? You can't drive, and if I drive to my place then your mom's car will be kind of stranded," I told her.

"Oh, right. Trina stayed at our cousin's house last night seeing as it isn't too far from the mall. Maybe we could wait cor her to come home before we take off with her to drive me back?" She suggested. I didn't like the thought of driving with Trina, but for some reason I didn't like the thought of Tori just sitting in a car in my driveway for a few hours, however comical the sight may have been. We decided on watching TV shows until Trina arrived, and I threw in comments about girls who had 'a little face on their makeup' when shows on MTV played with bottle blondes dancing around hunky guys who probably slept in the gym. Tori seemed to appreciate my taunts not being focused on her, and even laughed along when I did my Jersey-Boy impression while watching Jersey Shore. It wasn't all too long after we had started watching some little kid's show singing about (guess what?) food that Trina arrived in heels that were way too high to be legal on a wet day like today. Tori explained the situation to her older sister and made a grudging deal to do with cosmetics to be able to drive back home from my house.

I put on my boots and hopped into the driver's seat of Trina's car.

"Hey, my car, I drive," she said in her obnoxious voice. I rolled down the window and faced her.

"I'm not telling you where I live. I'm driving to my house," I said, rolled the window back up and started up the engine. Tori hurried into the passenger seat before her older sister could reach it, and we both locked our doors in case she tried anything. Trina huffed then made her way over to sit in the back seat.

"You don't have to come with me, you know," I told Tori.

"I want to make sure you get home safely," she replied almost hesitantly. I shrugged my shoulders and started the journey back home. After a few twists and turns in the road, we arrived at my house.

"Your house is really big," Tori said with palpable awe. I shrugged uncomfortably and stepped out of the car.

"My dad works high up in a big company. He's also really conservative with money sometimes, so we have a lot to spend," I told her as an explanation. "Do you know how to get yourself home from here?" I asked Trina.

"Of course, what do you take me for, an inexperienced driver?" I was about to say something about the word inexperience being mistaken for incompetence, and that experience had nothing to do with direction anyway, but decided to leave it.

"Thanks again for letting me stay the night," I gruffly told Tori, who had finally snapped out of her trance.

"Seriously Jade, it's fine. Call me if you want to talk or something. I consider us friends, even if you might not," Tori said, a hand resting on my shoulder.

"I guess you're my friend too," I told her slightly grudgingly. To this, Tori's smile grew and her whole face seemed to brighten, doing a much better job than the sun was right now. I couldn't help the little upwards tug on my lips as I watched her beam.

"See you at school tomorrow, Tori," I said, and stood there as she got back into the car, where Trina had readjusted into the driver's seat. "See you too," Tori called out to me, before giving me a small wave as the car backed out of the driveway. I stood in the same spot for a few seconds after the car had driven out of sight. At this point I let a huge grin grace my features, and turned back to go inside.


	2. Tori POV

**AN: Hey everybody. I literally wrote this just this morning, because of all the nice reviews I got. Some people asked for more romance, I guess I tried to deliver in this shot. I think I come off more like a horny teenager. I hope it makes you happy, this is from Tori's POV. The dialogue is the same, so sorry if you get bored of it and the repetitiveness or something. Also, I don't know how to make pancakes. So when Tori improvised, there really wasn't any research going into that other than how I thought pancakes were supposed to be made. Here goes,**

**Victorious belongs to Dan Schneider.**

I woke up on a Saturday morning to the light pattering of raindrops outside of the window. I quickly got up and got dressed, and went downstairs to grab something for breakfast. I didn't listen to my older sister Trina hollering from outside of the door about going shopping. She had once told me that everyone goes shopping at the mall on rainy days, so she was going to catch up with some friends. I don't really know what friends she has though, other than the people inside of my group. Not even they are her friends, really. I picked up a plate and grabbed a fried egg, which was lying in a frying pan on the stove. Grabbing a piece of toast to go with it, I sat down next to my mom on the table.

"Honey, your father and I are dropping off Uncle Steven to the airport because he's going to China for a little while. Do you mind dropping this off at the Jefferson's house while we're gone?" She asked me, and brought out a brown cardboard package.

"Why can't you drop it off on the way to the airport or get Trina to do it?" I whined.

"The Jefferson's aren't on the way to the airport and frankly I don't really trust your sister with this," my mom explained to me, pushing the package into my hands. I grumbled a bit, but accepted the box before putting my dirty plate on the bench by the sink.

Soon enough I had left the house with my blue patterned umbrella with the package and made my way over to the Jefferson's house. I knocked on the door but there was no answer, so I left the brown box on the doorstep under cover, still unsure of what was inside of it. I tried to shrug off my curiosity as I turned around to go back home. The rain drummed slightly harder on my umbrella, so I quickened my pace and hurried to get back to my warm home. It was afternoon by now and by the time I got home the sky would be growing even dimmer than what it is now, with the clouds blocking any view of the sun. I was so caught up in my thoughts about hot cocoa and blankets that I didn't notice somebody jogging towards me until they had crashed into me. I was lighter than them, so they toppled on top of me. I watched as they picked up my umbrella and held it over me, gritting out "Sorry." I recognised the voice but I was busy taking my umbrella back. As I lifted my head I realised who it was.

"Jade? What are you doing?" I asked, wondering why she of all people had run into me on a sidewalk. It was unlike her to crash into someone and then apologise. I held the umbrella over the both of us, awaiting her response.

"I was getting coffee at Jetbrew, but ran into some dislikeable company, so I left," she spat. I looked at her, with her nose slightly crinkled and eyebrows furrowed, trying to figure out why she was being so uncharacteristic earlier. I heard a snort before she walked out into the rain calling, "Whatever, I'll be on my way. See you, Vega."

"Wait!" I called out to her, before even realising what I had done. "You're all wet, and it's cold out, want to come with me back to my place and warm up a bit before catching a lift home or something?" I asked, without even thinking of the problems that might occur with her staying over for a little while. I didn't even know if she had taken her car here and needed to drive back, but she ducked under my umbrella so I continued my walk home. After a few minutes of silence we arrived at my house, and I unlocked the door to let us in.

"My parents are dropping my Uncle off at the airport, and my sister has gone shopping, so we have the house to ourselves," I informed Jade.

"Should I dry off, or…?" She trailed off, asking me. I didn't think she would want to walk around like a drowned rat for a while so I replied,

"Oh, um, you can have a shower if you want, and then grab some of my clothes, after I put yours in the dryer."

She nodded, and then made her way upstairs, leaving her wet and dirty clothes outside of the door, which she then locked. I picked up her soggy jeans and heard the sound of the shower being started. I loaded her clothes into the washing machine for a quick wash, rather than straight into the drier. I put her clothes into the drier after they finished washing for around fifteen minutes, and walked into my room. Not long after, I heard Jade enter my room.

"Hey Jade, I put your stuff in the drier earlier, do you want-" I started, but cut myself off after looking at her, only wearing my fluffy green towel. Water cascaded down her shoulders and in between her breasts and I flushed a deep red.

I hated how I started stuttering as I asked her, "Do you, um, want clothes or?"

"No Vega, I don't want clothes. I would love to strut around naked. Of course I want clothes!" Jade snapped at me. I broke out of my trance and huffed, how rude of her to talk to me like that. She would probably only want something light to wear while her clothes dry, so I picked out some black cotton shorts and a thin white top from out of my pyjama shelf, and grabbed a bra and panties to give to her. I handed them to her, but she only looked at me questioningly as she balanced the bra by its strap with one finger.

"I probably won't be able to fit in this," she told me, deadpan. I looked downwards towards her chest against my will as I tried to expel incoming thoughts of her busting out of my bra.

"Oh, then let me grab one of my sister's or something," I said, figuring one of Trina's would better accommodate Jade, even though Trina would probably hang me. Jade rolled her eyes and turned to face the wall, then let the towel slip to cover her waist downwards and slipped the shirt on.

"We're both girls Vega. Actually, I don't know what you have down there, but I should hope that you aren't appalled by me," she said, sensing my uncomfortableness as I turned around to give her more privacy. I let out a yelp, which embarrassed me, as she threw the towel at the back of my head. I took this as a sign that she was finished, so I faced her again. I then realised this was probably the first time I had seen her in anything white. It didn't look bad at all, I mused to myself. I actually kind of liked it.

"My clothes will be out of the drier soon anyway, right?" Jade asked me.

"Yeah they should be-" I started, but was cut off by the sound of my ringtone. "Sorry," I whispered to her as I answered my phone.

"_Tori, are you at home right now?" _My mom asked me through the phone.

"Yeah."

"_Well, your father and I are stuck at a motel because warnings about the weather are being announced over the radio."_

"Really? Jade's over, should she-"

"_Well, I want the both of you to stay inside until the weather calms down. Make sure it's okay with Jade and her parents, though."_

"Ok. I'll have to ask-"

"_Don't forget to call your sister telling her as well. I've got to go, love you. Bye."_

"Sure. Love you too. Bye." I hung up my phone. I glanced over to Jade, who was picking at her nails.

"That was my parents. They're stuck at a motel somewhere because the weather is acting freaky. They want you to stay here because a bad storm is coming and it will be too dangerous to drive home. Do you want to call your parents or something?" I asked her. I watched as she looked down at her feet and mumbled,

"Don't worry," (or something like that, I couldn't really tell,) before she looked up and jumped onto my bed. I was a bit concerned about how she had looked slightly upset before she had recovered just then, but I figured it wasn't my place to pry.

"Oh, well, um, I have to call Trina, so," I started to say, dialling Trina. The mall is nearby my cousin's house, so I told her to stay there until the weather calms. I listened to her whining, but eventually hung up and leaned over Jade.

"Do you want to eat something and watch a movie?" I asked, and followed her as she got up off the bed and walked down into the kitchen.

"You pick out a movie; I'll make something to eat. I feel too much like I'm intruding," she told me. I didn't think it was like Jade to want to make it up for intruding on somebody's home, but I felt it would be wrong as a host to let my guest make dinner. I tried to protest, but she shut me up with one of her infamous Jade West glares. I shrunk down and went to grab a movie. I wondered what Jade would like, as I flicked through the collection of movies the family had built up over the years. There were a few horror movies, but I didn't think I would be able to sleep at night after watching one of those and with Jade in the house, so I grabbed one of the romantic tragedy movies. This one had a serial killer in it, so I was fairly certain it was a win-win situation. I set it up in the DVD player, and watched the title screen replay for a while. Jade had brought out some rice balls not too long after I had settled into the couch, and grabbed one and started eating. I took this as the okay to eat one as well. I gave a hum of approval; they were much better than the spicy tuna balls I had made for Ryder. Jade hid her face in her hair, and I gave a grin at how cute it was, even though she would probably rip me to pieces if I told her. I then noticed the way her hair was drying. Strands of her hair were drying into little curls, and I fiddled with one in wonder. Who would have thought Jade's hair was naturally so curly? It looked good on her, I had to say. I saw her face forwards again, and I was a bit surprised she didn't really do anything to stop me. I took advantage of this situation, so I started to play with and tug on her curls. I looked at her face and noticed she was quite relaxed at this point, but I also noticed how close we had gotten. Figuratively or literally, I wasn't too sure right now. She snapped her eyes open as I brought back my arm, and I started to shift in my seat. Jade picked up the empty plate of the dinner she had cooked and took it to the kitchen. I took it upon myself to turn the lights off, filling the house with darkness. When Jade returned she brought a few chip packets, a bowl of candy and a bowl of popcorn with her. I played the movie as she sat the snacks down on the table and sat back down next to her.

I tried to get into the movie, but for some reason found it hard with the proximity between Jade and I. When the killer played on the screen, I ducked into Jade's side, trying to block my view of the gore and muffle the creepy music. I looked up at Jade briefly, who was so enraptured in the blood and guts she didn't comment on me being a total wimp. That's how I saw it, anyway. She was watching the killing scenes with so much intent; I was able to stare at her wide blue eyes, which were reflecting the TV screen, without her even noticing. She leaned back into the couch and returned to her bored expression as the murderer left the scene. I reached out to grab some popcorn when Jade's breathing hitched next to me. I blushed slightly as I realised my hand brushing the side of her boob was probably the cause. Trying to ignore her stiffness, I turned to keep watching the movie.

For some reason I heard a slight whimpering beside me, which I thought surely couldn't be Jade. I shuffled my body to face her, and sure enough, she had fallen asleep and had curled into the side of the couch, trembling almost. I stroked her shoulder and she calmed down a bit, so I returned to the movie. I noticed her shaking again, though this time it was because she was cold. I could tell by the goosebumps spread across her exposed skin. I got up to grab a thin blanket, and draped it over her. I fought an internal battle with myself, but ended up kissing her on the temple before I caressed her face lightly. She stirred a little, and I smiled and pulled the blanket further up over her body. I brought my hand back from her face and smiled softly. I decided I wasn't going to finish the movie anyway, so I turned it off and put it away. I checked to see if Jade was still fine- she was, so I went upstairs to get ready for bed.

I woke up to the unfamiliar sensation of holding someone in my arms. As soon as I realised this, my eyes widened as I tried to grasp my surroundings. I looked down to see a raven head of hair shadowing dark eyelashes and slightly parted lips. I then realised that Jade must have come up here in the night because of the cold or whatever reason. I tried to disentangle myself from her, but she gripped me tight, and when I tried to pull away she only snuggled in closer to me. I gave an amused smile at this. Who would have thought Jade West was a cuddler? I got a quick peek of her face, and I couldn't help but coo at how cute she looked, but also how pretty she really was. I finally managed to loosen her grip on me, and left the bed. Looking back at her, she looked more vulnerable than I have ever seen her, and part of me wanted to jump back into the bed and hold her. She gripped the blankets and curled herself up, and I took this moment to go get ready and then downstairs to make my guest breakfast.

I wanted to make it up to Jade for making dinner last night, so I tried to make some pancakes. After furious searching for a cookbook with a pancake recipe, I gave up and decided I would improvise instead. I pulled a few eggs and a carton of milk from out of the fridge, and grabbed some sugar. I didn't know what to do from this point, so I put it all in a large mixing bowl and stirred. I dipped my finger in the mixture and cringed at the strange taste after putting it in my mouth. I added some flour for good measure. Looking around the kitchen bench, I noticed the mess I had made. I poured the mixture into a frying pan and started to cook it. The liquid in the pan finally started to cook, but when I took a bite, I spat it back out. I couldn't believe how awful it tasted. Note to self, don't ever try to improvise pancakes again. I lay the dirty pan somewhere on the bench and went back into the fridge. I slapped my forehead instantly. Sitting innocently on one of the fridge shelves was a container of pancake mix. It wouldn't have tasted as nice as homemade pancakes, but it was better than nothing. I poured the mix into a new frying pan and set it on the top of the stove just as Jade walked down the stairs. I didn't think she knew about cuddling up to me, so I didn't say anything. I watched out of the corner of my eye as she started to clean up the mess I had made. I felt a bit guilty that she was the guest and she was cleaning up after me, but I had to immediately focus on the pancakes as they began to cook. When they finished cooking, I put some on a plate and thrust it in front of Jade. She looked up at me with a vacant expression, and then leaned over to wipe some pancake mix off of my cheek. I blushed a little bit, then harder as she licked her finger. She gave a light chuckle, which made my heart flutter for reasons that are beyond me.

"I made breakfast because you made dinner," I told her after I had gained more control over my body. I turned around and grabbed my plate then sat down opposite her on the table. I took a bite out of a pancake, which didn't taste all too great. I decided drowning them in maple syrup would help.

I lifted my head up to look at my guest, and when I did I found it hard to control my giggles. Her hair was skewered all over the place, knotted in some areas and sticking out everywhere. She didn't look too impressed, but held back any biting remarks.

"Your clothes finished drying last night. I didn't want to wake you though, but if maybe I could get my clothes back afterwards," I started to say, but felt my voice get weaker as I looked at what she was still wearing. The table hid her waist down, but judging by the way her chest was… protruding from her shirt, she was feeling cold. I swallowed and tried to remind myself that staring at other girls isn't normal, dragging my eyes back up to her face.

"Thanks for letting me stay the night, anyway." Jade said, trying to diffuse some of the awkward tension. I brought myself back into the conversation, trying to ease some of my embarrassment.

"It's okay. You never did tell me why you ran into me, exactly," I prodded; curious and concerned as to why she was so unlike herself yesterday afternoon. I saw Jade hesitate and look down at her plate before she answered,

"I walked to the coffee shop with my umbrella, but I saw Beck and some girl draped over him. I guess I've found it harder than him to move on, so I rushed out of the shop forgetting my umbrella. It was only a cheap one anyway." I wondered if she meant the umbrella or the girl was a cheap one. I looked at Jade once more and noticed she was growing more upset on this topic of conversation.

"I guess he can be a bit of a jerk sometimes, we just tend to overlook that because he's good looking," I told her, unsure of how to make her feel better. She scoffed and stood up, and made her way up the stairs. I hope I didn't offend her or anything.

"I'm grabbing my clothes," she shouted back to me.

I decided now would be a good time to put away the dirty dishes in the dishwasher. When Jade came back down the steps, I took notice of what she was wearing earlier for the first time. A dark, low cut halter-top and form fitting jeans suited her well, I thought, and I smirked knowing she was wearing them to show off more skin after breaking up with Beck. It certainly caught _my _attention. I tried to make my staring a little more subtle, and asked, "The weather is clearing up, do you want to drive home now?"

"Yeah, sure. How is that going to work though? You can't drive, and if I drive to my place then your mom's car will be kind of stranded," Jade informed me. Right, I don't have a driver's licence. My plan hasn't exactly been thought through well, not that my plans ever are.

"Oh, right. Trina stayed at our cousin's house last night seeing as it isn't too far from the mall. Maybe we could wait for her to come home before we take off with her to drive me back?" I suggested.

We ended up watching TV shows for a little while as we waited for Trina to return. It was easier for me to laugh at Jade's jokes when I wasn't the punch line, and I thought her impression of 'Mike the Situation" was hilarious. I was about to throw a jab in at Jade about being a hamburger when a kid's show started to play on a different channel singing about food, when Trina decided to come in at that moment. I was slightly glad she did, before my thoughts drifted back to that day when I had to, um, get Jade's boobs into the hamburger costume. We both made an unspoken agreement to not talk about that incident, after all.

I had to make a deal with Trina that I would help her squeeze some of her out of reach pimples in order to get her to drive Jade to her house. Jade and Trina were arguing about who would drive, and when it looked like Jade had won I rushed to the passenger seat before Trina could get there.

"You don't have to come with me, you know," Jade told me. To be honest, I wanted to spend as much time with her as I could before she had to leave. I don't know what's wrong with me.

"I want to make sure you get home safely," I replied, and cursed myself internally at how hesitant that came out. Jade merely shrugged her shoulders and started to back out of the driveway. Jade took us down an unfamiliar route, so I tried to memorise it in the case that I ever needed to visit Jade or Trina forgot how to get us home. We arrived at a really uptown part of the neighbourhood, and I marvelled at all of the huge houses that bordered on being a mansion. Jade turned down a particularly long driveway, and parked in front of a massive house.

"Your house is really big," I said, unable to spit out anything else because of the sheer enormous size of the house.

"My dad works high up in a big company. He's also really conservative with money sometimes, so we have a lot to spend," Jade told me, almost uncomfortably. I ignored Jade and Trina's short conversation as I realised that I didn't know much about Jade's family at all, other than that her dad hates her.

"Thanks again for letting me stay the night," she said and I was brought back into reality.

"Seriously Jade, it's fine. Call me if you want to talk or something. I consider us friends, even if you might not."

"I guess you're my friend too," Jade said, trying not to acknowledge any troubled waters in our past. This made me smile so much my cheeks started to hurt. I finally got past that thick outer shell that Jade had been protecting herself with. I don't know whether it was because she was out of sorts after seeing her ex yesterday, or if she considered us friends because of the moments we had shared but either way I was happy.

"See you at school tomorrow, Tori," Jade said to me, and I noticed the way she wasn't grimacing or anything, but giving a small smile- and she had actually called me by my first name.

"See you too," I called out to her as I got back into the car with Trina. I kept waving until Jade left my line of sight, and then finally let my hand rest. Jade admitted she was friends with me. Why was it that a part of me wanted to be more than that?


End file.
